#les legions noires

[ex-nihilonihil]

how your email finds me

[altar-ov-plagues]

Wlad Drakksteim (Vlad Tepes)

[vinter-skugga]

[under-a-felonious-moon]

[girlsniper]

Dans notre chute, 1995

[thethroneislost]

raw bm higher royalty...

[asphyxiating-endless-darkness]

Vlad Tepes

posted by Arcane Archivist Zine 

[revelationsperminute]

[les-legions-noires]

[swangtup6]

Demo Review: Mütiilation - Rites through the Twilight of Hell (1992)

Mütiilation is a band that, for the "initiated" (god that's corny), needs no introduction. The most famous band in the notorious French black metal circle, Les Legiones Noires, I honestly don't care for most of their releases. However, I have a weakness for their '92-'95 demo run, with the band's very first release, this demo, being my favorite. How good was this legendary band's first musical venture from a (semi) objective perspective? Let's discuss.

The first thing I want to talk about is the first thing in the demo; the intro. This is atypical for me, but I specifically want to talk about the intro because I really don't like it. It's the length of a full track (over two minutes!) but Is largely boring, annoying, shitty guitar playing, with dumb sounding "occult noises" that drags on and wastes time. 2 minutes isn't a lot of time, but it's still unecessary and hurts the overall quality of the release. Overall, it's a lame start.

The next thing has to be the guitars, as they're BY FAR the primary instrument on this release. The guitars are wayyyy too loud (in a good way) in the mix, and kinda drown everything else out. The riffing is very simple and reminds me a little of early Absurd, except played a bit more confidently. The riffs often drag on for most of a song, repeating over and over again in a style remniscent of early Burzum tracks, and are mostly mid-paced and headbang-y. Overall, I really like the guitarwork on this demo quite a bit, I think it's pretty unique and enjoyable to listen to, even with somewhat pathetic leads/solos (again, very remniscent of Absurd).

There is no audible bass.

The drumming is probably the weakest part of this demo in my opinion. All of the beats are very simple like the guitar, however, they are also painfully offbeat to the point where they don't even matter or need to be there, especially considering how low they are in this mix. They pretty much only detract from the music, except for the moments where they magickally align with the rest of the song for like 30 seconds and it's like "ah this is nice" and then they go back to being off beat. I do give the drummer, credited as "Dark Wizzard of Silence", some grace though, because if he was the same age as Mey'nach (credited as "Willy" on this release) when this was made, he probably only had a year or two of experience and could still pull off some semi-decent blasts.

Onto the vocals, these are another high point of this demo in my opinion. Willy used a very different technique when recording this than he did later on. Instead of a higher rasp, he SCREAMS his lungs out for the majority of the 30 minute runtime. They're somewhat buried in the mix, but the vocals have a very shouty quality to them that benefits the headbangy, midpaced sound that this demo has.

The final specific quality of this demo I would like to talk about is the production. I've touched briefly on the production in each of the previous paragraphs, but it warrants its own. This is on the cleaner end of raw black metal, in my opinion. Just about everything is audible (except the bass but it's black metal, there's almost never bass), and due to the minimal number of instruments, the mix isn't too completely full of 482098290208 different guitar tracks and 9278352385032708 vocal layers or really any synths or shit like that. The production is stripped, minimal, and rough. The guitar is the centerpoint, being so loud in the mix it almost has a shoegaze-y quality, reducing all other instruments and at times itself to textures layered on top of one another, rather than any kind of real rhythmic or melodic sounds. The production sounds full and isn't muddy for the most part. Most riffs are distinguishable, as are vocals and drumming. However, it's still pretty harsh and distorted, so it isn't too clean but it's not super duper dirty like Witchmoon or Lampir or early Grausamkeit.

Overall, this is a spectacularly amateur demo, in the best way possible. It has pathetically played lead guitars, but they have a charm to them. It has off-beat drums, but that just makes it more trve kvlt. It sounds like it was recorded on a broken 4 track player and it probably was. This is a bunch of highschoolers fucking around and making fun, pretty good music, especially for a first release. I love how this demo sounds, and a "good" recording of the same songs wouldn't be anywhere near as great (probably why I don't like Mütiilation's later material). I think it's fantastic, personally. However, I also want to be as objective as possible while giving my subjective opinion on this piece of music. Similarly to A Funeral of Light, while this is a charming demo that I hold dearly, I can't score it as high as I want to due to it having some pretty glaring flaws.

6/10

Standout track: Born in Malediction

[earlycuntsets]

mcr shows on youtube pt. 1 (2002 - 2005)

-> pt. 2 (2005 - 2007)

-> pt. 3 (2007 - 2011)

-> pt. 4 (2011 - 2023)

02/16/2002 american legion garfield nj – sarah lewitinn

03/01/2002 loop lounge passaic nj – ATØMIC JĒY

06/14/2002 club krome south amboy nj – spaceyrayrun

06/29/2002 harmony grange hall no. 12 wilmington de us – spaceyraygun

07/05/2002 american legion – camp merritt post 21 cresskill nj usa – spaceyraygun

07/19/2002 loop lounge passaic park nj – spaceyraygun

08/03/2002 rexplex elizabeth nj – spaceyraygun

08/16/2002 maxwell’s hoboken nj – george koroneos

08/17/2002 alissas basement kinnelon nj – spaceyraygun

09/14/2002 electric factory philadelphia pa – spaceyraygun

12/02/2002 fireside bowl chicago il – brad nolan video on plentyoflegs

12/18/2002 trocadero theater philadelphia pa – spaceyraygun

12/23/2002 factory 324 roanoake va – panterathrashfan13

1/11/2003 fireside bowl chicago il – brad nolan videography

02/20/2003 mississippi nights st louis mo – brad nolan videography

02/21/2003 beaumont club kansas city mo – brad nolan videography

02/28/2003 boonton elks lodge boonton nj – user: random stuff

03/23/2003 club krome south amboy nj – douglas carl

05/14/2003 north star bar philadelphia pa – deadhoarse

05/23/2003 imusicast oakland ca – skyline studios – oakland

06/08/2003 bloomfield avenue cafe montclair nj – spaceyraygun

06/26/2003 the knitting factory nyc ny – luxlillian

07/26/2003 the chameleon club lancaster pa – spaceyraygun

08/18/2003 9:30 club washington dc – TEPMIHATOP_HvH

08/19/2003 trocadero theater philadelphia pa – spaceyraygun

10/23/2003 downtime nyc ny – spaceyraygun

10/31/2003 south amboy nj halloween show – user: MCR stuff and things

11/14/2003 university of connecticut-stamford stamford ct – user: random stuff

12/14/2003 irving plaza nyc ny – spaceyraygun

05/17/2004 des moines iowa house of bricks – 515 archive

06/02/2004 manchester university manchester uk – TEMIHATOP-HvH

06/08/2004 vintage vinyl fords nj – spaceyraygun

06/09/2004 newbury comics shrewsbury ma us – punkstermann

06/10/2004 north star bar philadelphia pa – spaceyraygun

08/08/2004 summer sonic festival tokyo japan – dusted out on route guano

11/08/2004 hard rock live orlando fl – ryanninja

11/13/2004 unknown venue orange ca – TEPMIHATOP_HvH

12/12/2004 universal amphitheatre universal city ca – andrea amador

01/17/2005 trl nyc ny – patty8239

02/03/2005 la boule noire paris – the academy is my beautiful romance

03/04/2005 arrow hall mississauga ontario ca – the academy is my beautiful romance

03/05/2005 john labatt centre london ontario ca – the academy is my beautiful romance

03/29/2005 arco arena sacramento ca – moranestes

05/21/2005 kroq weenie roast irvine ca – the academy is my beautiful romance

05/27/2005 wxdx summer kick off chevrolet amphitheater pittsburgh pa – neeeeonafterglow

06/06/2005 le trabendo paris france – the academy is my beautiful romance

06/10/2005 download festival donington park castle donington uk (interview) – TEPMIHATOP_HvH

06/25/2005 warped tour reliant park houston tx – ibanez27

06/27/2005 hard rock live orlando fl – ATØMIC JĒY

07/02/2005 32/20 warped tour pier san francisco ca – the academy is my beautiful romance

07/12/2005 warped tour thunderbird stadium vancouver ca – kristi haubrick

07/30/2005 warped tour molson park barrie ontanio ca – loveorsympathy

07/31/2005 warped tour silverdome pontiac mi – nightrain5565

08/01/2005 warped tour post gazette pavilion burgettstown pa – price family homestead

08/05/2005 warped tour vinoy park st. petersburg fl – rogo117

08/10/2005 warped tour nissan pavilion bristol va – the academy is my beautiful romance

08/11/2005 warped tour ford pavilion montage mountain scranton pa – the academy is my beautiful romance

08/12/2005 warped tour tweeter center camden nj – katemcilwaine

08/13/2005 warped tour randall’s island park randalls island nyc ny – the academy is my beautiful romance

08/14/2005 raceway park englishtown nj – readydeady

08/23/2005 the underworld london england – leila vardar

08/31/2005 melkweg the max amsterdam netherlands – user: random stuff

09/01/2005 abart zurich switzerland – mychemrock1

09/03/2005 idroscalo segrate italy – nacho en tour

09/15/2005 promowest pavilion columbus west ohio – andreaflowers

09/17/2005 eastern michigan university convocation center ypsilanti mi – amanda

09/27.2005 mesa amphitheatre mesa arizona – mark zeta

10/02/2005 event center arena san jose ca – jason is lost in japan

10/08/2005 gwinnett center duluth ga – living with ghosts

10/10/2005 revolution live ft lauderdale fl – natnizzle

10/14/2005 tweeter center camden nj – decoemergency

-> pt. 2 (2005 - 2007)

-> pt. 3 (2007 - 2011)

-> pt. 4 (2011 - 2023)

[thehumandevil666]

Finally listening to the new Mutiilation album. Meyhnach never disappoints.

[altar-ov-plagues]

Vorlok Drakksteim (Vlad Tepes)

[chic-a-gigot]

La Mode nationale, no. 16, 19 avril 1902, Paris. Groupe de toilettes pour dames et jeunes filles. Bibliothèque nationale de France

(10) Robe d'intérieur pour jeune femme ou dame d'âge moyen en fantaisie beige. Robe droite à plis repincés; formant dans le bas un volant auquel une broderie ton sur ton sert de tête. Même broderie devant; même broderie dessinant l'empiècement. Décolleté carré sur une guimpe de linon blanc; col brodé. Manche droite, large, ornée de broderie.

(10) House dress for young woman or middle-aged lady in fancy beige. Straight dress with re-pinched pleats; forming a ruffle at the bottom to which tone-on-tone embroidery serves as a head. Same embroidery on the front; same embroidery drawing the yoke. Square neckline on a white lawn wimple; embroidered collar. Straight, wide sleeve, decorated with embroidery.

Matériaux: 7m,50 de lainage.

—

(11) Robe de visites pour jeune femme ou jeune fille, en voile bleu-pastel. Sur une première jupe à plis fins, tombe une seconde jupe également plissée à repincés. Corsage blouse décolleté entre-deux de guipure descendant pour dissimuler la fermeture. Basque rapportée derrière. Manche large, resserrée au coude, par un bouquet de fronces; ceinture drapée de soie blanche.

(11) Visiting dress for young woman or girl, in pastel blue voile. On top of a first skirt with fine pleats, falls a second skirt also with re-pinched pleats. Blouse bodice with insertion neckline and guipure descending to conceal the closure. Basque attached behind. Wide sleeve, tightened at the elbow, with a bunch of gathers; belt draped in white silk.

Matériaux: 10 mètres de voile bleu; 2 mètres de mousseline de soie; 0m,60 soie blanche.

—

(12) Robe élégante pour jeune femme, en bengaline rose bengale. Jupe en forme terminée par cinq volants un peu froncés. Au-dessus des volants, entre-deux de guipure en forme de dents rondes et faisant deux quilles de chaque côté du tablier. Des dépassants de taffetas noir encadrent l'entre-deux. Corsage froncé, voilé d'un grand col de guipure et de deux pattes rappelant la garniture de la jupe. La manche s'écourte sur un bouffant en mousseline de soie blanche.

(12) Elegant dress for young women, in bengal pink bengaline. Shaped skirt finished with five slightly gathered ruffles. Above the ruffles, guipure inlays in the shape of round teeth and making two keels on each side of the apron. Black taffeta overhangs frame the space in between. Gathered bodice, veiled with a large guipure collar and two tabs reminiscent of the skirt's trim. The sleeve is shortened on a white silk chiffon bouffant.

Matériaux: 10 mètres de bengaline; guipure en laize.

—

(13) Robe de ville pour jeune femme ou jeune fille. Jupe en lainage vieux rouge quadrillé bordée en forme d'un volant plat en taffetas rouge "légion d'honneur". Corsage-blouse, fermé devant sous une large patte de taffetas. Col en forme en taffetas et petit col rabattu en lainage bordé d'un biais de soie. Manche droite terminée par un biais remontant en taffetas.

(13) City dress for young women or girls. Skirt in old red checkered wool lined in the shape of a flat ruffle in red “legion of honor” taffeta. Blouse-bodice, closed in front under a large taffeta tab. Shaped collar in taffeta and small turn-down collar in wool edged with silk bias. Straight sleeve finished with a rising taffeta bias.

Matériaux: 5 mètres de lainage; 6 mètres de taffetas.

—

(14) Robe simple pour jeune femme ou jeune fille, en suédoise d'été "son mouillé". Jupe en forme ornée d'un biais en forme piqué et fixé de côté par un bouton fantaisie. Large biais de drap blanc piqué, posé en forme. Corsage croisé, décolleté sur un dessous de drap blanc; guimpe et ceinture en liberty saphir foncé. Manche froncée dans un poignet droit.

(14) Simple dress for young woman or girl, in Swedish summer "wet wool". Shaped skirt decorated with a pique-shaped bias and secured on the side with a fancy button. Large bias of white stitched cloth, laid in shape. Crossed bodice, neckline on a white cloth underside; gimp and belt in dark sapphire liberty. Sleeve gathered in a right cuff.

Matériaux: 5m,50 de lainage; 0m,50 de drap blanc.

—

(15) Robe de visites pour jeune femme ou jeune fille, en voile fleuri vert-d'eau. Jupe cerclée de biais de soie blanche. Boléro ouvert sur un dessous en mousseline de soie blanche. Hausse-col et col découpé liserés de biais blancs. Manche plissée à l'épaule et froncée dans un poignet droit. Ceinture à pointe en soie blanche.

(15) Visiting dress for young women or girls, in water-green floral voille. Skirt circled with white silk bias. Bolero open on a white silk chiffon underside. Ruffled collar and cut-out collar with white bias edging. Sleeve pleated at the shoulder and gathered at a straight cuff. White silk pointed belt.

Matériaux: 7 mètres de voile; 3 mètres de taffetas; 0m,60 de mousseline de soie.

—

(16) Robe de réception pour jeune femme ou dame d'âge moyen, en crêpe vieux rose. Robe composée de volants froncés bordés de dentelle; le devant est droit; les plis maintenus par une écharpe nouée en satin noir. Décolleté en V sur une guimpe de dentelle. Manche rayée en haut de repincés, froncés au-dessous du coude dans un poignet collant en dentelle à clair.

(16) Reception dress for young or middle-aged ladies, in old pink crepe. Dress composed of gathered ruffles edged with lace; the front is straight; the folds held by a tied black satin scarf. V-neckline on a lace wimple. Striped sleeve at the top, gathered below the elbow in a clear lace fitted cuff.

Matériaux: 12 mètres de crêpe.

[todays-music-is]

Dans la forêt...

album by Lord Aäkon Këëtreh, 1996

Genre: DSBM (Depression Suicidal Black Metal), ambience metal

He is a French Black Metal artist from the (now split-up) band "Les Légions Noires" ("The Black Legions"). This album is a full demo from the Aäkon Këëtreh project. They made two more album of the kind.

Personal opinion: I personally like the sad, nostalgic and yet uplifting mood of this atmospheric black metal. I listen to this when alone and tired.